


The Depths of Ever After

by AbigailPickardWrites



Series: Here's to the Villains [3]
Category: The Little Mermaid - All Media Types
Genre: Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Disney, Fairy Tale Retellings, Redemption, Short Story, The Little Mermaid- Freeform, Villains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:47:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27439801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbigailPickardWrites/pseuds/AbigailPickardWrites
Summary: Ursula (The Little Mermaid)'s story, humanized and explainedTHIS IS NOT A HAPPY STORY
Series: Here's to the Villains [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2004667





	The Depths of Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Injuries, major character death, tyrannical king, wrongful imprisonment, blood, attempted murder, murder, manipulation

"ATLANTICA! MOVE!"

I dove forward, my tentacles moving as fast as they could go. My daughter stood, horror stricken, as King Triton screamed and whipped his trident around again. The sea rose and crashed, and my daughter was thrown backwards and down towards the sea bed. She slammed into a rock in a whirl of bubbles and fell motionless on the ground. I wanted to swim to her, do anything to help her. The blood floating into the water would soon attract sharks. I charged at King Triton with a scream, seizing the trident in my hands just as his guards arrived.

"Your majesty! You are disrupting the seas and many merpeople are hurt, some dead- oh! LADY URSULA HAS DONE IT! SHE STOLE THE TRIDENT! SEIZE HER!" The head guard yelled out, charging forward with his troops. They grasped at the trident and bound my tentacles and hands.

"No!" I yelled, "I didn't cause the storm! He did! Please, my daughter! My daughter! Is she hurt? Is she okay? Please, please, no! HELP HER!"

But my cries had no effect. They dragged me to the prison. I didn't blame Triton for the storm. His wife had just died, and he was in emotional turmoil. But he did not tell the guards that I was innocent. I had always been a respectable woman with amazing magic, a Lady in the kingdom of merfolk. Now, I had no idea how my daughter was and I had lost all decency. I looked down at myself. I was hardly who I used to be. Just a week ago I was a slim woman with beautiful purple and black tentacles. I wore lovely shells and my hair was styled to perfection. Young and beautiful, I was always confident. Now, it seemed like a mockery. I grabbed my spiraling and braided bun and ripped at it until my hair floated around me. I wasn't a noble anymore, looking like one just made it worse. I furiously scrubbed my face until the ocean paints came off, and I looked like my normal self. I threw away the purple silks that adorned me. My hands were beautiful and perfect, each nail a lovely rose. Not anymore. I slammed my fist into the wall and blood appeared, my hands now dirty. I looked up to realize that the wall wasn't there anymore. Dust and debris floated up and clouded my vision. The wall was gone- I was free.

I swam as fast as I could towards my manor. I would have to leave. Triton could find me there. My closest companions, two eels which I had decorated with silver to look refined were behind a rock, their silver jewelry gone. The two's names were Flotsam and Jetsam, and they looked terrified as they huddled. I dropped down next to them.

"What's going on? Why are you hiding?" I asked, stroking their backs in an attempt to calm them down.

Flotsam looked up at me, eyes wide. "They're here for Atlantica! We tried to defend her but we were defeated, now we're just trying to stay alive."

"They want Atlantica?" I could just feel my heart stop.

Jetsam nodded and came closer to me. "The king says he's not going to kill you, he said that killing her would make it worse for you."

"They want to kill Atlantica?" A wave of unfamiliar anger churned inside me. How dare Triton go after my daughter.

"Stay here." I directed my two friends and I charged into the manor. Guards posted outside tried to stop me, but I wiped them out as I raced down hallway after hallway, checking a thousand rooms.

I finally found her in her bedroom. Triton had his trident jabbed deep into the wall. Between the tongs was the neck of my daughter. She had two hands on each tong, trying to free herself. Her tentacles swished wildly so that she would not hang herself. She shoved with all of her might but the trident didn't budge. She was trapped.

Across the room, the King of the Merfolk went through her belongings, taking anything that was valuable and putting it into a large bag. Every once in a while, he would glance over at Atlantica, just a 10-year-old girl fighting for her life. His smile would grow as she thrashed and cried.

How dare he.

I swam to him first and slammed my hand into the king's jaw. Triton looked up in surprise and I hit him with a spell, the last one that I could muster. He fell back and sank to the floor of the bedroom, clutching his jaw. I turned to Atlantica and swam over. She looked exhausted as her struggles became weaker. I clasped the trident, yanking and yanking until it lurched and pulled out of the wall. Atlantica collapsed just as the king came to. He came forward before I had a chance to react and swept the weapon from my hands. He whirled towards the unconscious body on the floor. It was like the world moved in slow motion, but I was firmly rooted in one spot. The trident rose, as the king of the merfolk roared in fury. The three sharp tongs entered my daughter's abdomen and leg then were ripped out violently. Blood floated up, staining the clear blue waters. Triton turned and left, his bag over his shoulder. I couldn't move. Not because I was upset, but because I actually couldn't move. He had placed a paralysis spell on me with that cursed trident of his! I was supposed to stand here as my daughter, the only family I had left, gained consciousness, screamed, cried, and bled out until she died.

And that she did. Her eyes opened. She looked around groggily for a moment, then her eyes were as wide as saucers. And she screamed. It was earsplitting and it sounded like her vocal cords would be ripped to shreds. She clutched her wounds and looked to me, pleading for help. But I couldn't move, couldn't speak, and couldn't tell her that I wanted to help her. She only saw that her mother, the mother that would wipe away her tears, read her funny bedtime stories, and fix her fish sandwiches with the crusts cut off stood there and watched as she died.

The spell lost its power mere moments before death claimed her. I broke free and ran to her side. The time I had spent frozen in place had provided me plenty of time to regain my strength, which I needed to heal her. I bent down beside her, placing my hands on her wounds. The ancient words of the healing incantation spilled from my mouth and her wounds slowly disappeared. That was the day I swore I would protect Atlantica at all costs.

~+~

1 Year Later

"Flotsam! Jetsam! I need you two to go find me customers. We're running low on money. There's no way we can cover the next batch of ingredients." I called to my two beloved pets.

"Okay," Jetsam said, "we'll go." He swam out of the mouth of my home, Flotsam in tow.

"Are we really low on money again?"

I heard the voice of my daughter, now 11. She lurked in the back corner, looking sad. She was as beautiful as always. Her tentacles, like everyone in the family's, were black. But hers had blue accents underneath, where mine are purple. She was thin and slender, her face was fair and her hair was loose. It billowed around her like swells of the sea and her ocean blue eyes looked troubled. A lovely shell necklace hung from her neck, and everything about her radiated grace and elegance.

I, on the other hand, had become very ugly over the past year. My hair was always loose and wild, I had gained a lot of weight, and my face was hardly what it used to be. But my appearance was not all that was corrupted. Though I was the same person inside, I was hardly a noble any longer. Now I dabbled in dark magic, and claimed souls. It was a horrendous work that I thoroughly hated, but people were desperate and willing to pay anything, which kept myself and my daughter safe. She did not approve of my new work, but she let it happen.

"I... yes, my dear. We are. But Flotsam and Jetsam are very persuasive. Don't you worry, not about anything. Now, the customer will be arriving soon, so why don't you go to your room, okay?" I assured her.

She nodded and left, going to her bedroom that had a view of the palace in the far distance.

I heard the voices of my pets coming from the entrance of the lair. Quickly, I went to my seat and fixed my makeup. Then I heard another voice, the voice of the King's daughter, Ariel. Oh no, I'm not ready for this!  
She entered the room and I make quick work of trading her legs for her voice and a time frame. The moment she left, I knew that our lives would take a turn. I would make sure that she did not succeed in her romance, and then I would have her soul. Triton would bend to me, for I would hold his daughter, just like he did to me. Then, I would become queen, and Atlantica would be princess, and we wouldn't have to worry. We would be safe, we would be free.

I set up a great many obstacles, going out of my way to get that princess's soul. But it was all for naught. Now, I was on the ocean floor, a ship impaling me, alone and dying. I looked up at the stars that faintly glowed through the water. They were so beautiful. It's funny, it really is. We all look at stars as dainty, lovely lights that shine here. But truthfully, they're big flaming balls of gas that destroy everything around them. Maybe I'm like the reverse. I look destructive and evil but I'm just a light inside. I'm similar to the stars in that way. They used to say in mythology that those who die honorably become constellations. Will I become a constellation? The Ursa Major. I would grace the sky in a great display of stars. Is my death honorable enough? I did die trying to gain power, true, but to protect my daughter. I think so. Maybe when I'm gone, Atlantica can look up at the night sky and see her mother. So that I'm never totally gone. I can imagine that it would be hard, looking up at the stars through tears and wishing you had your mother. But I can't go back to her, and I believe in her.

I closed my eyes and left my soul leave my body. Finally, I would become one with the stars.


End file.
